


Waiting on the other side

by bugheadjones



Category: Being Human (UK)
Genre: F/M, Gen, Post-Season/Series 04
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-02
Updated: 2017-08-02
Packaged: 2018-12-10 09:31:21
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11688843
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bugheadjones/pseuds/bugheadjones
Summary: Who is expecting Annie on the other side?





	Waiting on the other side

**Author's Note:**

> I recently finished watching Being Human on Netflix and I fell in love with the characters. It has been several years since I've written fan fiction or even really been inspired by a show enough to try, but this needed to be written. It's half closure for me and Annie (specifically regarding Mitchell) and it was nice to explore my thoughts of what the other side may be like in the Being Human universe.
> 
> I don't own these characters. I'm just playing with them.

_They're expecting you._

It doesn't take long to find George and Nina. Or, rather, they find her. Usually she would say it's their werewolf genes, but Annie knows that this time it’s their connection to their daughter. Or perhaps they already knew she and Eve were coming. People on the other side always seem to know what's happening.

Annie's not sure how long she spends walking around, going in this door and that one, but it could have been minutes or hours. Time moves differently on the other side, but it's so calm and, as much as she wants to find everyone, she doesn’t feel the need to rush. 

She's just opening the door that leads into the Honolulu Heights B&B when she hears him behind her. 

“Annie,” he says, and she quickly turns to see her best friend standing there. It feels like ages since she’s seen him. She rushes over and wraps the arm not holding Eve around his neck. 

“George!” 

He feels exactly the way he used to and it’s so familiar it causes tears of relief to come to her eyes. Nina softly says her daughter’s name and takes Eve from her, immediately beginning to whisper into the baby's ear. She almost wants to protest (“don’t take my baby”) but she looks back at George.

“I've missed you,” Annie says at nearly the same time as George, causing them both to laugh, and the only thing she can think to do is kiss him on the cheek and hug him tighter. Really, is anything else needed? 

When Nina looks up from the baby, all she says to Annie is, “thank you” and George steps over to join his family's reunion. 

The moment in front of her is bittersweet in ways she didn't expect it to be, mostly because this is it. She's truly dead this time. They're all dead. But they're together and they no longer have to worry about fighting evil, and that's the best thing that could happen to any of them. 

She doesn't ask about Mitchell. She wonders how likely it is that he could even be here. She and George both killed before they came here, in defense of someone else and without having much control, but Mitchell's history was much bloodier. She's afraid to ask. The thought that he could be walking around purgatory again with no hope of getting out again is too much. Despite his need for punishment, and even her wanting him to atone for his sins, she doesn't want that to be his eternity. His true soul is better than that. 

The four of them spend the evening in the B&B, catching up on the goings on in the other side and Eve’s development, and they look in on Tom and Hal for a while, before George and Nina take Eve to her nursery. Sleep still doesn't exist here, but the routine feels normal and, well, that's part of their heaven, she supposes. 

“I understand the tea now,” George says with a half grin and she rolls her eyes at him. About time. “It gives you something to do, something to hold.” 

“Go sing to your daughter, George.” Annie winks at him and his look of elation is enough to make dying again all worth it. Well, saving the world was worth it, too. But this… this may be even better. It’s the happiest she’s seen George since he and Nina got together, since Eve was born, since ever. 

After the Sands-Pickering family go upstairs, she walks back out into the long hallway and stands there for a while looking around at all the doors. They're a mix of doors from her life, George's, and Nina’s, and she supposes other people they’re all connected to, but she spends the night going in and out of hers. Some are barely recognisable and she ends up discovering the ice rink she and her sisters would spend hours at during the winter. As soon as she walks in, she can practically feel the cold air hit her cheeks and hear the shrieks and laughing and the Christmas songs. 

“It’s been years since I’ve thought about this place,” she says to herself while walking around. Before she died, the first time, she didn’t see her sisters because she was so obsessed with moving in with Owen and planning their wedding. It’s not that she wants to be sad when she’s supposed to finally be at peace, but she regrets that. The only thing that makes the thought better is knowing that one day, hopefully years and years from now, she will finally see her sisters again. One day her entire family will be here. 

When she reaches the door to their place in Bristol, her breath catches in her throat. It has been so long since she's been here, and she's not sure she's ready to visit. Surely she won’t see her death when she walk through that door, but it doesn't keep her from fearing it. Most of all, she's unsure if she's ready to see if anyone is waiting on the other side. 

She places her hand on the doorknob before shaking her head and continuing her walk. 

Her bedroom at her parents’ house is the same as it was when she left it, and she spends the rest of the night looking through her old clothes and trying to find a way to check on her parents. It comes in the form of an extremely old cell phone she finds in a purse. 

“Ahh, I knew I would find you one day!” She exclaims. A sudden laugh behind her causes her to spin around, but there’s no one else in the room. There are many people in the other side, so it could have very well been someone somewhere else. The rest of the night, she knows because the sun comes up while she’s sprawled out on her old bed, is spent watching her parents sleeping in their bed. They look peaceful. 

A knock on the door surprises her and she looks up to see Nina pushing it open. “Hey,” Nina says as she walks into the room. “I thought we could talk alone.” 

Annie nods and pushes herself up to rest against the pillows, patting the spot beside her on the bed, and Nina sits down. The cell phone is still clutched in her hand. Nina notices it and smiles. 

“You found a relic.” 

“I can see my parents in it.” Annie smiles brightly and looks down at it once more before putting it aside. “They’re at peace, too.” 

“Are you?” Nina asks bluntly and they meet each other’s eyes for a moment without Annie answering. Finally, she nods her head quickly. 

“Of course! I’m here with you and George and seeing you two with Eve is wonderful. It feels like I did the right thing.” 

Nina places her hand on Annie’s and smiles thankfully. They had told each other the night before how much they’d missed each other and Nina thanked her for what felt like hours for watching over Eve, but it feels like she’s telling her again in that moment. 

“You did this for the world, Annie, just like George died to save Eve, like -” 

“Yes,” she interrupts. “Well, what do you guys do here? Is George making coffee or tea for us this morning?”

Nina looks at her for a moment before standing up and smiling. 

“Actually, would you do us the honour of making the tea?”

Instead of shouting her excitement, she hops off the bed and grabs Nina’s hand. “I haven’t done this for you in so long! Come!” 

After a long morning of passing around cups of tea and coffee and Eve, though it’s hard to get her adoptive daughter away from her parents, she and George take some time to walk around together. He shows her his childhood bedroom and she can’t help but laugh at the pictures on his wall. Then she shares her own bedroom and ignores him when he laughs at _her_ old journal.

“Okay, that’s enough in here!” She says, wrapping her arm around his and dragging him out of the room. 

“Can we come back later?” 

Again, she ignores him. 

They reach the pink house and she tries to avoid his gaze while they stand outside of it. But that doesn’t often work with George. 

“Annie?” He tugs on her hand and forces her to look at him. “Have you been here?” 

“No.” She shakes her head nonchalantly, but she knows it’s too fast to be convincing. “No, I haven’t.”

She’s not ready. It’s one of the happiest places she could be, but she’s not ready. There’s too much possibility in there. Good possibility, yes, but also the possibility to break her heart.

“Gilbert!” She bursts out. “Do you know where I could find him? Have you seen him? I told Lia, you remember I mentioned her, that he must be here and she could find him. He could use a friend here and she was lonely, so I’m sure she’s found him by now.” 

Annie’s rambling, but she doesn’t care. George looks at her, placing his hands on her shoulders and looking her in the eye. 

“Annie,” he says softly. “I haven’t been in the house either. I was waiting for you.” 

“For me? But why?” 

“Why haven’t you gone in?” 

They look at each other for a moment and, once again, she remembers how they’ve always been in all of this together. He’s waiting for her before he goes in. 

“Oh, George.” She lifts her hands to cup his face. “I don’t know if I’m ready. What if -” 

“I know, but we have to find out. We can’t spend forever here without knowing. And, anyway, I think that Mitchell’s here.” 

Annie takes a deep breath and tries to fight back her tears.

“His true soul was so pure,” she says, a tear slipping down her face. “Surely, when you had to kill him, it was freed or - something! He can’t be in purgatory all alone. And, if he is, well, then I’ll just have to go get him.”

“No, Annie, stop!” George shakes her a bit and she snaps out of her rant to look at him. Taking a deep breath, she leans into him. “You’re right; we know what he did, but we know who he truly was, all the good in him. I believe he is here with us. We just have to find him.” 

“And you think he’s in there.”

“Where else could he be?”

“If he’s here, he would have found you, George. He would know you’re here.”

“I know, but my guess is he’s waiting on you, just like I was waiting.” 

So they go in. They just walk right in, hands clasped together and this huge hope in both their hearts. Annie’s never been this hopeful for anything in her life, not since childhood birthdays and holidays, but this would be the greatest gift of all time. 

The last time they were here, they left Mitchell and fled to Barry, but they made amazing memories in this house. She’d bought it with Owen expecting it to be the house she’d spend the rest of her life in, and for a time she thought she would be stuck here as a ghost, but it ended up being the house of her dreams. This house helped her come alive. And she’d missed it. 

“Mitchell?” George whispers beside her and she glances at him. Not saying it out loud must be his way to ignore the thought that he may not actually be here. 

“His bedroom,” she says. 

They walk up the stairs together and burst into the room, both deflating when they see how empty it is. Except for the clothes on the floor. “Just _filthy_ ,” she remarks under her breath and closes the door behind them. That’s her way to ignore that he may not actually be here. 

Continuing their walk down the hall, they look into George's old room, not for Mitchell but more for George, and then reach her room. As soon as they open the door, there he is, sitting in front of her chair on the floor. 

_Mitchell._

There’s something so much lighter about him here, like all of his demons have been taken away somehow. He’s up in an instant, enveloping her in his arms and holding her tightly. A moment later, George is wrapping his arms around both of them. Just like old times. 

It’s Mitchell who speaks first. “I’ve been waiting for you.” 

Pulling away slightly, though it’s hard with George having his arms around them, she looks up at Mitchell.

“George has been here all this time and you didn’t come find him?” She looks at him in surprise and slight anger and shakes her head.

Mitchell smiles slowly and shakes his head, looking at George over her shoulder. “I kept tabs on him. Besides, he had Nina. They deserved to be together without me complicating things.” 

“Yeah,” George sort of mutters behind her and she pushes him away gently so she can really properly look at Mitchell.

“I’m so happy you’re here.”

“I didn’t think I would be,” he replies honestly. 

“But you are, and I don’t care how, because now we’re all here. And you have to meet Eve! She’s so perfect, Mitchell.” 

Annie wraps her arms around him again, pulling him down to give him a kiss. Then another and another until George clears his throat. 

“I’m right here,” he says a bit sulky and they both look at him in amusement. “And you have eternity for that, so let’s get out of here and go back to Nina and Eve.”

Once George and Mitchell have hugged again, without her between them this time, the three of them make their way out of the house and back to the B&B. Mitchell’s distaste for the decor is obvious as soon as they walk in and she laughs to herself. Then she wonders if he doesn’t like it because he was killed there, but the wall mural comes into view and, no, it has to be that. 

She watches Mitchell with Eve for a while, neither of them saying a word and the baby not making a sound, before he looks up at her. “You were watching her on your own.” 

“No, not on my own. I had Tom and Hal helping me out.” 

“I know, but you were her mother.” 

Annie smiles softly. “She never learned to speak, so I didn’t have to decide what to have her call me. I’m thankful for that.” Annie loves this baby and, although she’s no longer hers, and she’ll never get that again, she’s grateful for the short opportunity she had to be a mum. And she did get to hear Eve, the future Eve who will now never exist, call her mum. She moves over on the sofa and puts her head on his shoulder, looking down at the baby. They don’t see anything more on that topic, but she’s sure he knows how she feels. 

After Nina takes Eve upstairs with George, it’s the first time they’ve been alone together. And it feels so natural, so good, so permanent.

“Do you remember when I told you we were for eternity?” He asks, as if he can read her mind, and there’s this beautiful, soft smile on his lips when she looks at him. 

“How could I forget? It’s only the most romantic thing a man has ever said to me, all the stuff that happened afterward forgotten, of course.”

He doesn’t respond to that, but he does wrap his arm around her tighter. 

“I told you that we were for eternity,” he continues. “And I meant it, but I didn’t think we’d actually get to be here together. God, Annie, I’ve been waiting for you. We get this new chance, and this time it’s truly forever, no more running or fighting or blood.” He sounds so hopeful that it could almost break her heart if she wasn’t feeling the same. There’s something so much brighter about his soul now. She understands now what people mean when they say that someone is blinding. 

She strokes his cheek and kisses him softly. “I never doubted that you meant it, but you’re right. Now we truly do have eternity. I couldn’t be happier that I finally walked through my door. It was my time.”

Mitchell presses his forehead against hers and she sighs softly, savouring the quiet moment. There’s no more that needs to be said between them, not right now, not when are together in the afterlife. Not when they’re finally at peace.

There are many things that Annie was never able to do while she was alive, but she learned so much about herself and the world after she was dead. She experienced more as a ghost than ever she did as a living girl. She grew, found her best friends, helped people find their peace, was a mother, saved the world, and fell in love with the love of her life. Opening her door was one of the scariest and most exciting things she’s ever done, but now she has her family back again. Now she’s at peace. 

For all of eternity.

**Author's Note:**

> Thanks for reading! Comments are appreciated.


End file.
